I made a porter, and opened and drank it 2 weeks after bottling. It was ok, then i found some lost bottles in my car trunk, stored for another week at 80F+, chilled them, and WOW much better. I am learning to wait at least 3 weeks, or longer for the best beer after bottling.

It's a good lesson.
I try to save most of a batch until 8 weeks after brewing for the majority of my beer. That seems like the usual flavor peak. Bigger beers take longer and wheat beers are best as young as possible.

[quote="jccturf"]I made a porter, and opened and drank it 2 weeks after bottling. It was ok, then i found some lost bottles in my car trunk, stored for another week at 80F+, chilled them, and WOW much better. I am learning to wait at least 3 weeks, or longer for the best beer after bottling.[/quote]

Hi All
I try to wait at least 4-8 weeks in cold storage before I serve a beer, they just seem to taste better

I would recommend brewing far enough ahead that you can let your beer condition for at least 2 to 3 months. I have found the flavors to be best with most of my beers at about this age. If it's a very complex or highly hopped beer, I'll let it sit for 3 to 5 months if I can.

I would disagree on hoppy beers needing longer. It is of course up to the brewer and his/her personal taste preferences though.

I find that hoppier beers like IPA's tend to be better after 3-4 weeks depending on ABV. The hop flavor has mellowed a lot in most of my hoppier beers and being a fan of "smack you in the face" hop flavor, I just prefer to drink them before it mellows.

Very hoppy beers very definitely do benefit from longer aging.
Granted, there are some folks that enjoy the harsh, green flavors of a young highly hopped beer...perhaps they have become accustomed to that flavor profile due to simple impatience at the thought of letting the brew age, or from experience with the abundance of overhopped, young beer being sold in bottles these days. Taste is after all a very personal thing. I suppose your palate can get used to anything

With aging, it's true that things do soften a bit, but the bitterness becomes much cleaner. Best example is a beer that unfortunately has long since faded into history... My favorite commercial IPA 40 years ago had a mighty 75+IBUs and more than 7.5% abv. It was plenty hoppy, but remarkably balanced. The refined palate of that beer was largely due to the full year of aging in wood that the beer received before bottling. No commercial beers these days take that kind of care anymore...but many homebrewers have learned that for strong and/or hoppy beers that are cleanly brewed, time is definitely your friend. The trick is to plan ahead, and brew often.